Truck owners must also face the law for road carnage – SANCO
10 July 2017
Johannesburg - Truck company owners join their employees in facing the full wrath of the law for incidents of road carnage, the SA National Civic Organisation (SANCO) said on Monday.
The organisation, which said catastrophic road deaths "cost the country invaluable lives and the economy billions in health care", called for bail for the driver of the truck involved in the Mpumalanga horror crash in which 18 people died.
The truck collided with a bus transporting mineworkers on Tuesday.
The driver is expected to face 18 charges of culpable homicide when he appears in the Belfast Magistrate's Court on Monday.
"Truck drivers are put under tremendous pressure by their companies who must not be exonerated from the matter before court if investigations have proved that fatigue was the cause of the tragic accident," SANCO spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu said.
He claimed long distance drivers are in most cases "sacrificial lambs" that take the fall for unrealistic company policies that require them to cover long distances without adequate rest, and drive unroadworthy company vehicles.
